Automotive interiors have many interior panels that form the interior door panels, floor panels, and rear deck storage panels. The panels need to be structurally sound and light weight while being expeditiously made from readily accessible materials. Because of the high volume of automotive vehicles being manufactured each year, great efforts have been made to make the cars from environmentally friendly materials. These environmentally friendly materials are either recyclable, i.e. they can be reused a second time, or may be made from recycled materials, i.e. they are being used for a second time.
Another source of materials that is considered environmentally friendly is material that would otherwise be waste. The salvaging of material that is otherwise waste provides for a second chance for material that would otherwise be burned or deposited in landfills. Natural materials are considered because of their renewable natural fiber content. Flax is grown in great quantities for its seed which is crushed to obtain its desirable flaxseed oil. However, since the days when synthetic materials and other cloth greatly replaced the dominant use of linen, the flax chaff and stalks have found little use and often lie in the field as waste material. This situation is particularly acute in North America where the flax is primarily grown for the seed. Flax stalk is often burned since its oily content repels water thereby inhibiting its quick degradation back into the soil.
It has been known to incorporate flax or other natural cellulose fibers in a composite material. However, previous compositions that incorporated natural fillers either did not have the structural integrity within the dimensional thinness needed for molded contoured automotive panels or could not be expeditiously made to produce a consistent product having a cosmetic or decorative facing. The process used to blend and mold the fibers with the plastic resin required the plastic resin to be in a melted or liquid state and required mixing of the fibers with the liquid before the resin sets. Furthermore, the fibers need to be chopped because longer lengths of fibers tend to clog the nozzle of extruders or injection molding machines resulting in defective molding. However, the structural supporting properties of the fibers are lessened and the stiffness of the board may drop when shorter fibers are used.
Furthermore, the heat in previous molding processes often ruined the temperature sensitive cosmetic or decorative facing. Heat can destroy textured surfaces as well as any foam backings to the decorative layers. On the other hand, the absence of heat above room temperature prevents the proper joining of structural layers. Crazing also can appear in deformation areas if the materials are overly cool during deformation.
What is needed is an expeditious molding process that in a single molding step provides an automotive interior structurally supportive panel having a decorative facing and if desired can incorporate a sound insulating layer and anchored fastener members.